Abortion

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they were consulted by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists during its review The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the revised guidance The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Earl Howe: The department commissioned and funded the review of the guideline The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) following a recommendation from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee in 2007. The department has observer status on the group.
	The consultation period has now ended and all comments will be carefully considered by the guideline development group undertaking the review. As is usual practice, the department will not be asked to agree or endorse the final contents of the guideline.

Abortion

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many abortions were registered as stillbirths in each of the past five years for which information is available.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the abortions carried out after 24 weeks of gestation resulted in the baby being (a) buried, or (b) cremated, in each of the past five years for which information is available.

Earl Howe: The law requires that the bodies of babies who are stillborn (born dead after 24 weeks gestation) or who die after birth are buried or cremated. They must also be registered as stillbirths. These legal requirements also apply to all abortions performed after 24 weeks' gestation.
	The following table shows the total number of abortions undertaken after 24 weeks and the total number of stillbirths registered in each of the past five years.
	
		
			  Abortions (after24 weeks) Total number of stillbirths (including abortions after24 weeks) 
			 2005 137 3,483 
			 2006 136 3,602 
			 2007 135 3,598 
			 2008 124 3,617 
			 2009 136 3,688 
		
	
	The department does not collect information on whether abortions over 24 weeks' gestation resulted in a burial or cremation.

Abortion Act 1967

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is their policy that any amendment of the Abortion Act 1967 should be made in a Private Member's Bill rather than Government legislation.

Earl Howe: The Abortion Act 1967 was introduced through a Private Member's Bill. The Act was last amended through Back-Bench amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, which was introduced by the Government of the day. For a small number of issues, including abortion, which involve faith, beliefs and conscience, it is accepted parliamentary practice that proposals for changes in the law come from Back-Bench Members and that decisions are made on the basis of free votes.

Asset Freezing

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what powers enable them to freeze assets in the United Kingdom and its dependencies where the assets are alleged to have been placed or purchased by illegal means; and whether the powers apply to (a) assets of individuals associated with governments, and (b) assets connected with large-scale or organised crime.

Lord Sassoon: The United Kingdom has strong domestic legislation in place, including the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which provides for action to be taken in respect of assets that represent the proceeds of crime or that have been acquired using the proceeds of crime. These are not asset-freezing powers as such but provide for the confiscation or forfeiture of assets and the civil recovery of the proceeds of unlawful conduct.
	The possibility of seizure or restraint of assets under this legislation is separate to asset-freezing provisions contained in international sanctions targeted at specific countries by the United Nations or the European Union. These sanctions place an asset freeze on the funds and economic resources held by designated persons.
	The Crown dependencies and overseas territories are committed to meeting international standards and playing a responsible role in international financial markets. We will of course encourage these territories to take action in response to any requests.

Benefits: Disability

Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty's Government what state benefits are dependent on an applicant being in receipt of (a) the care component of disability living allowance, and (b) the mobility component of disability living allowance.

Lord Freud: There are a range of benefits that are dependent on DLA. I have placed the information requested in the House of Lords Library.

Bookstart

Lord Kinnock: To ask Her Majesty's Government what public funding was provided for Bookstart in the financial year 2009-10; what funding is being provided in 2010-11; and what funding will be provided in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, and (c) 2013-14.

Lord Hill of Oareford: In financial year 2009-10, a £9 million grant was provided by the Department for Education (DfE) for the Bookstart scheme. In 2010-11 Booktrust was awarded a £9 million grant by DfE for the Bookstart scheme. Subsequently Booktrust declared expected savings of £990,000, including savings relating to the Booktime and Booked Up schemes, which receive a further DfE grant of £4 million in total. A free book-gifting scheme will be delivered in 2011-13: Booktrust will receive £7.5 million for its delivery in 2011-12 and £6 million for its delivery in 2012-13. No decision has been taken on public funding for Bookstart in 2013-14.

Cabinet Office: Manual

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the final version of the Cabinet Manual will include in the section on the formation of a minority administration guidance on the circumstances in which the incumbent Prime Minister would be advised to resign.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The draft Cabinet Manual has been published and comments were invited by Tuesday 8 March 2011. The Government will consider all comments received and decide what changes are needed before a final version of the Cabinet Manual is produced.

Deaf People: Telecommunications

Baroness Goudie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what telecommunications services are available in the United Kingdom for deaf people.

Baroness Rawlings: Specific arrangements that provide for disabled users of electronic communications networks are mandated under the Universal Service Order 2003 and Section 67 of the Communications Act 2003, which empowers Ofcom to set general condition 15 ("Special Measures for End-users with Disabilities") of the consolidated version of the General Conditions (18 March 2010) on providers of universal telecommunications services in the UK for deaf and hard-of-hearing users. These arrangements currently mandate the requirement of, for example, a text relay service. There is also some availability of video relay services for British Sign Language users on a commercial basis in the UK-for example, Significan't (based in the London area) and Deaf Connections (based in Glasgow).

Deaf People: Telecommunications

Baroness Goudie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that British Sign Language users have functionally equivalent access to telecommunications.

Baroness Rawlings: Revisions to the EU electronic communications framework, including the universal services directive, provide for member states to empower national regulatory authorities (Ofcom in the UK) to specify, where appropriate, requirements to ensure that disabled end-users:
	have access to electronic communications services equivalent to that enjoyed by the majority of end-users; andbenefit from the choice of undertakings and services available to the majority of end-users.
	The revised framework makes it clear that responsibility for decisions on equivalence reside with the National Regulatory Authority (NRA).
	In order to fully implement these new provisions, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is proposing to make changes to Section 51 of the Communications Act 2003 to clarify Ofcom's power to impose a general condition in relation to equivalence. This will be in addition to the existing powers that Ofcom has under General Conditions of Entitlement (GC 15) and the Universal Service Order 2003.
	In addition, DCMS continues to analyse responses to the recent government public consultation on proposals to implement the revised framework, including the new Article 23a of the universal services directive, detailed above.
	At the same time, Ofcom is undertaking a review of relay services that support disabled end-users in their use of electronic communications. The objective of this review is to assess whether current arrangements for the provision of relay services are adequate in delivering equivalence to voice telephony for hearing-impaired and speech-impaired end-users (including British Sign Language users) and, if they are not, to consider proportionate solutions. The formal public consultation element of this review will launch in the spring.
	DCMS's proposed changes to the Communications Act 2003 will enable Ofcom, following the outcome of its review, to mandate the changes that it deems appropriate and necessary to ensure that disabled end-users have access to the equivalence and choice required by the revisions to the framework.

Deaf People: Telecommunications

Baroness Goudie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what support is available for British Sign Language users to access telecommunications.

Baroness Rawlings: There is some availability of video relay services for British Sign Language users on a commercial basis in the UK-for example, Significan't (based in the London area) and Deaf Connections (based in Glasgow).
	Specific arrangements that provide for disabled users of electronic communications networks are mandated under the Universal Service Order 2003 and Section 67 of the Communications Act 2003, which empowers Ofcom to set General Condition 15 ("Special Measures for End-users with Disabilities") of the consolidated version of the General Conditions (18 March 2010) on providers of universal telecommunications services in the UK for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.
	These arrangements currently mandate the requirement of, for example, a text relay service for all deaf and hard-of-hearing end-users.

Deaf People: Telecommunications

Baroness Goudie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what meetings have been held with Ofcom to discuss access to telecommunications for British Sign Language users.

Baroness Rawlings: Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) officials have met with Ofcom to discuss Ofcom's review of relay services including discussion of access to telecommunications for British Sign Language (BSL) users. In addition DCMS and Ofcom officials have been in regular contact to discuss implementation of Article 23a of the revised universal services directive.
	DCMS and Ofcom officials have co-facilitated discussions on disability and equivalence, including video relay services, at the stakeholder events run during the public consultation on the implementation of the revised EU electronic communications framework. Representatives from the BSL community attended these events and BSL interpreters were provided to facilitate full and inclusive discussion.
	Ofcom is a key member of the DCMS e-Accessibility Forum established last autumn. One of the forum's key aims is to deliver better access to, and more affordable, adaptive technologies as part of its accessible consumer technology and digital equipment work stream.

Education: Funding

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money has been withheld from each local education authority in respect of their estimate of the number of schools in their area that will convert to academies and open as free schools; and what is the withheld money as a proportion of the schools budget in each authority.

Lord Hill of Oareford: We provide academies with additional funding in recognition of the additional responsibilities that they have, which would previously have been borne by their local authority. There are two elements to the grant: the proportion that the department can recoup from the dedicated schools grant that would otherwise go to local authorities and the proportion that the department cannot recoup because it is in respect of services normally paid from other local authority funds. For the latter, to avoid academies and local authorities being funded for the same services, we have calculated a total cost, and this is reflected in the amounts transferred from local authorities' formula grant of £148 million and £265 million in 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively. The consequent adjustments to the baseline for each local authority are available on the Department for Communities and Local Government website at: http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/1112/1011adjusteds.xls and http://www.local. communities.gov.uk/finance/1112/1112adjusteds.xls
	These adjustments were based on national averages and estimates, applied equally to all local authorities, as we cannot predict at this stage how many academies and free schools there will be in each local authority over the next two years. The deductions do not affect the schools budget in each authority, which is funded through the dedicated schools grant direct from the department, rather than through formula grant.

EU: Budget

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Sassoon on 28 February (WS 87-9), what proportions of the European Union budget are administered by (a) the European Commission, and (b) member states.

Lord Sassoon: The European Commission is responsible for the whole of the EU budget. However, some areas of expenditure are jointly managed between the European Commission and member states. In 2009, the latest year for which outturn data are available, around 86.6 per cent of expenditure was jointly managed by the European Commission and member states, with the remaining 13.4 per cent being managed solely by the European Commission.

Finance: Covered Bonds

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proposals they have to promote the issue of covered bonds to facilitate the finance of home purchase.

Lord Sassoon: As announced in November 2010 in the Government's response to the Green Paper on financing a private sector recovery, the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority are reviewing the UK's regulatory framework for covered bonds. The review will consider how to help financial institutions to make best use of covered bond funding. Greater access to funding will help banks and building societies to lend to support the economy. The Government intend to publish a consultation on the review later this year.

Gross Domestic Product

Lord Moonie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the per capita gross domestic product in (a) each English region, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland; and what were similar values, adjusted for inflation, in 1997.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, director-general for ONS, to Lord Moonie, dated March 2011.
	As director-general for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for estimates of the per capita gross domestic product in each English region, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland now and in 1997 (HL7375).
	The Office for National Statistics does not produce regional estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) but it does produce estimates of regional gross value added (GVA). GVA is GDP excluding taxes and subsidies on products. Estimates are produced at current basic prices, which do not account for the effects of inflation.
	The latest data available are for 2009, published in December 2010.
	The per capita values for the Government Office regions of England and those for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1997 and 2009 are listed below.
	
		
			   GVA £ per head 
			  1997 2009 
			 North East 9983 15621 
			 North West 11027 17263 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 11045 16569 
			 East Midlands 11525 17349 
			 West Midlands 11442 16788 
			 East of England 11767 18591 
			 London 19447 34200 
			 South East 12898 20923 
			 South West 11467 18211 
			 Wales 9983 14842 
			 Scotland 12090 19744 
			 Northern Ireland 9817 15795 
		
	
	Source: Table 1.1, Regional GVA, ONS, available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy /GVA_NUTS1.xls

Health: Prescriptions

Baroness Masham of Ilton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, following the publication of Care and Compassion?, which highlighted problems with repeat and incorrect prescriptions, they intend to issue guidelines to hospitals and general practitioners on reviewing prescriptions and medication.

Earl Howe: It is a long-standing professional duty for prescribers in both hospitals and general practice to ensure that medicines are prescribed appropriately and reviewed regularly depending on the individual needs of patients. The National Health Service chief executive and the national clinical director for older people have written to the chairs of NHS bodies to draw their attention to the findings of the report Care and Compassion?

HM Revenue and Customs: Office Closures

Lord Christopher: To ask Her Majesty's Government what they forecast the effect to be of the closure of the HM Revenue and Customs office in Wick in March 2012 on the staff, taxpayers and the Revenue's interests in Wick.

Lord Sassoon: On 9 March 2011, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) confirmed its intention to proceed with the closure of its office in Wick by March 2012. A vacation mandate will be issued before the end of March 2011. Staff were informed in a face-to-face meeting by a senior manager.
	On 9 March 2011, HMRC also announced the launch of a new targeted voluntary exit scheme, aimed at and available to a pre-selected group of staff in specific circumstances. Eighteen people in Wick, within local compliance and customer operations, have received a letter of invitation to apply for the scheme. The terms offered are equal to those under a voluntary redundancy scheme. Successful applicants will leave HMRC on 31 July 2011. Redeployment options will continue to be explored for those people in Wick who choose not to apply for the scheme.
	Customer service remains a priority for HMRC and taxpayers will not be affected by the closure of the office in Wick. Facilities will continue to be available to those customers who prefer to deal with their tax affairs online or by telephone. Face-to-face inquiry centre services will remain in the locality for those people who require that level of service, although they may be remodelled as part of the spending review settlement.
	HMRC's interests will not be affected by the closure of the office in Wick. It recognises the need to continue to focus on ways of tackling tax evasion and uncollected tax. Potential compliance risks in Caithness will be covered in the retained HMRC locations by larger, integrated teams with a mix of skills.

Housing: Mortgages

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have considered guaranteeing mortgage-backed bonds for prime mortgages.

Lord Sassoon: As announced in November 2010, in the government response to the Green Paper on financing a private sector recovery, the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority are working with the securitisation industry to consider the development of more consistent standards for UK securitisations. This would help to place the securitisation market on a sound footing for the long term and improve the appeal of securitisations to a broader range of investors.
	The previous Government operated a guarantee scheme for mortgage-backed bonds and other asset-backed securities, known as the asset-backed securities guarantee scheme. This scheme closed on 31 December 2009.

Local Government: Finance

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hanham on 7 February (WA 28), how many of the 300 representations received on the proposals for the 2011-12 local government finance settlement were (a) supportive, (b) not supportive, and (c) neither supportive nor not supportive, of their proposals.

Baroness Hanham: Representations on the proposals in our consultation on the 2011-12 local government finance settlement varied depending on the range of issues covered and the interests and concerns of the sender. Most representations received raised a number of aspects of the provisional settlement and included both supportive and unsupportive comments. Ministers' decisions on the final settlement were informed by the entire range of views.

Pensions

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 16 February (WA 197), whether the decision to regard details of any decision on the forfeiture of a civil service pension benefits as confidential personnel management matters takes account of one of the stated reasons for forfeiting pension benefits being because the person's behaviour in the particular employment "is liable to lead to a serious loss of confidence in the public service".

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: That a pension may be forfeited because a person's behaviour is liable to lead to a serious loss of confidence in public services is one of the tests applied when considering forfeiture. However, releasing details of individual decisions remains a separate and confidential matter.

Railways: Compensation

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to change the redemption arrangements for travel vouchers issued by train operating companies; and whether they intend, in future rail franchises, to require that travel vouchers can be used for ticket payments online or via ticket machines.

Earl Attlee: We have no current plans to mandate the way in which compensation is paid to customers. For franchised operators, compensation entitlements for poor performance are set out in their individual passenger's charters. The detailed arrangements for the operation of compensation schemes are a matter for individual train operators.

Railways: Competition

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the sustainability of the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway of the decision by the Office of Rail Regulation to continue the moderation of competition in the West Midlands and to allow Virgin Trains to commence and terminate one service each day at Wrexham.

Earl Attlee: The sustainability of the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway Company was entirely a matter for the directors of that company to assess, bearing in mind the conditions and restrictions under which they knew they had to operate.
	Moderation of competition on the west coast main line will cease on 31 March 2012 and the Office of Rail Regulation published its decisions about new applications for access rights on the west coast main line on 2 March.
	We look forward to seeing whether bidders for the replacement inter-city west coast franchise, which is due to commence on 1 April 2012, are able to make a case for improvements to service patterns in the West Midlands.

Railways: East Coast Main Line

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government to what extent they were involved in setting the timetable and calling patterns for the new East Coast Main Line timetable coming into effect in May 2011.

Earl Attlee: The Department for Transport set out the broad requirements for the new timetable in its specification for the inter-city east coast franchise when that franchise was re-let in 2007. The department has facilitated the subsequent development of the timetable by Network Rail and train operators by ensuring that co-ordinated service changes are made by the various operators on the route to deliver the right overall service pattern.

Schools: Sport

Lord Kinnock: To ask Her Majesty's Government what public funding was provided to School Sports Partnerships in the financial year 2009-10; what funding is being provided in 2010-11; and what funding will be provided in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, and (c) 2013-14.

Lord Hill of Oareford: The Department for Education provided grant of £115 million to school sport partnerships in 2009-10 and £118 million in 2010-11. In October 2010, the Secretary of State for Education announced that he was not going to continue to provide ring-fenced funding for school sport partnerships beyond March 2011. Instead, the Secretary of State is providing £65 million in the school years 2011-12 and 2012-13 to fund the release of a teacher for one day per week in every secondary school to enable them to provide more opportunities in competitive sport for pupils. This is in addition to any support that schools themselves decide to secure from their own budgets in order to meet the national curriculum requirement for PE and sport. The Secretary of State has not yet announced his plans for the 2013-14 academic year.
	In addition, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport announced recently the Government's outline plans for a network of school games organisers from September 2011. These organisers will be funded by the Department of Health and Sport England for three days a week to help schools to sign up for the nationwide school games and to increase sporting competitions. Further details on the funding for these organiser posts and their precise roles will be announced shortly.

Universities: Extremism

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 10 January (WA 362), what is their response to the recent report of Universities UK on extremism on campuses; and whether they intend to discuss the report with the organisation or make representations to it.

Lord Henley: We are studying the contents and recommendations of the report released by Universities UK and will use this and a wide range of other representations to inform our development of the new Prevent strategy, which will be published later in the spring.
	We will work closely with Universities UK, the Association of Colleges, the National Union of Students and other bodies to ensure that universities and colleges are fully aware of the risks associated with extremism on campus and that we are collectively doing everything that we can to manage these risks.